Who were our forefathers? What manner of men were they, and in what walks of life did they tread? In what times fell their births, their marriages, their deaths? Who shared their homes, and became with them the parents of their children? Who are their kinsmen, and how are they related to us who bear our name? All of these are questions which we wish to ask more often as we grow older; and which our children ask more eagerly in time to come. To answer them is the aim of Genealogy; and to answer them for our own family is the object of the authors in preparing this work.
In any attempt to trace the history of a family ,the greatest difficulties present themselves in consequence of the scarcity of records, printed or written. When these are altogether absent, as is often the case, the only resource is tradition, with its limitations and liability of error. Hence it is that much uncertainty exists as to the details of the history of my family prior to the American Revolution, although since then, as this will show, the records are very complete.
Of Jean Guenon we know that he was of French Huguenot origin, having left France owing to the persecutions to which the Protestants were subjected in that country during the seventeenth century, and that he came to New York by way of Holland.
Exiled from France , he set sail April 2 1657 from Amsterdam for America in the ship "Draetvat." In 1658 he settled in Flushing, on Long Island, on a farm which he occupied for the remainder of his life. On August 30 1660 he married Grietie (Margaret) Sneden. They had two sons, John, born 1669, and Jeremiah, born 1671, and two daughters. He died in Flushing in 1714 , his wife surviving him some 13 years .In Mandeville's History of Flushing he is mentioned in a list of residents there between 1645 and 1698, and is called John Genung. This establishes the name Guenon with the form of Genung. Thus , around Lake Mahopac, about fifty miles northeast of New York City, at which place Thomas Ganong lived before the Revolution, both names, Ganong and Ganung, are common and known to be identical. More over a search in the early printed records of the Putnam County shows the forms, Ganung, Gannung, Ganoung, Ganong, are used indifferently; and in some records the same person has used both forms. Also a form Genong is also known. It seems therefore probably almost certainty that we are all descended from Jean Guenon, the Huguenot, And if this be true , it is possible that the Genongs are descanted from one of his sons, Jeremiah, while we are from the other possibly John, the former family having the spelling assigned to Jeans name by his American neighbors, while ours is nearer to the true French form.
In several printed records of Putnam County, New York, from which county our ancestor, Thomas , came at the close of the revolution, there are references to various Ganongs. In a list of the taxable inhabitants of Putnam (then a part of Dutchess) County in the year 1723 the name Ganong does not occur at all in any of its forms. This would indicate, supposing our belief as to our descent from one of the sons of Jean Guenon to be true, that they had not yet removed from their fathers farm at Flushing. However in 1747, there resided in Putnam County three men of our name....Edward Ganong, John Ganong and Joseph Ganong. In another list of 1752, these same names occur, but spelled Gannung, and it further recorded that on January 20, 1757, Joseph married Elizabeth Kellog. A list of 1762 gives the same three names as residents near Lake Mahopac, and an Isaac Ganung, is mentioned as a chain-bearer to a surveyor. In 1777 a list of taxable inhabitants of Putnam County contains the following: Joseph Ganung, Gilbert Gannung, Jacob Ganung, John Gannung, Isaac Gannung. No mention is made of Thomas Ganong. perhaps because he possessed no property.. or else was not of age.. A some what earlier document , a pledge of 1775, expressing dissatisfaction with the doings of Great Britain, and promising obedience to the Continental Congress and the General Committee, contains the name Thomas Ganong. This pledge contains a list of residence in the Amenia precinct, now near the center of Dutchess County.. The probability of this being our Thomas is consistent with the close association of his name in the pledge with that of Moses Barlow, a name which does not occur in any other lists, as the wife of Thomas is a Barlow. More over his presence in Amenia precinct, some distance from Lake Mahopac, will explain the absence of his name from the list of 1777. Signing of this pledge was not inconsistent with his subsequent character as a Loyalist. as many of the Loyalist protested against the exactions of Great Britain in 1775 and afterwards remained loyal to the King.
At the opening of the Revolution. three brothers, Thomas, John and Isaac Ganong. were living at Lake Mahopac. Isaac took the part of the Colonist , but John and Thomas remained true to the King and at the close of the Revolution had to remove with other Loyalists to Nova Scotia which then included New Brunswick. After a few years John returned to Lake Mahopac and married a Miss Weeks of Westchester County. He died in 1838 age 87 leaving one son, and several daughters . Isaac the youngest married and settled near his brother and left many descendants. Thomas the elder brother remained in Nova Scotia. from further documentation , the following therefore would represent
Of the life of Thomas Ganong before coming to New Brunswick in 1783 we know very little. He was born in New York State, probably at Lake Mahopac, about 1745. He married Joanna Barlow, in the State of New York about 1775, and had three sons born to them before leaving the State. Two of which we have concern, James and Thomas Carleton,each having twelve and eleven children respectively.
We have no evidence that Thomas was a soldier, nor yet in public office ; he was probably a farmer , and like many of his neighbors was forced to leave New York because of British sympathies.. It is interesting to note that many of the ancestors of the families now living in Belleisle were likewise residents near Lake Mahopac, and came with him to New Brunswick in 1783.. A list of residents in 1747 contains the well known names of Perkins, Gray, Cory, Peters, Akely, Jenkins, Crawford, Sprag, Travis, Burns, Huson, Drake, Brundage, Paddock and others now well known in Kings County, New Brunswick.
That Thomas Ganong came to New Brunswick as a Loyalist in 1783 is the universal tradition amongst his many descendants in New Brunswick; and that he came by the first spring fleet, which reached Saint John in May. This is confirmed by a paper left by the late John E.Ganong, a grandson of Thomas, who knew better than any others his grandfathers history. The paper was a copy of an inscription for a monument intended to be, though it never has been, erected to the memory of Thomas Ganong, and it reads;
The exact date of Thomas Ganong's death is unknown as the Kingston church records of this date have been lost, but it is must have been in June or very early July, 1810. The vestry book of Kingston shows that he was alive May 31, 1810, and the date of probate of his will, July 4, 1810, shows that he died before that date. He was buried in Kingston churchyard, but the position of his grave is unknown. His wife Joanna survived until January 11, 1832 and was buried in Kingston church yard beside her husband on January 13. Her parentage is unknown, but from the association of her husband's name with that of Moses Barlow in the Pledge of 1775, it is possible that she was his daughter. Moses Barlow and his brother Nathan are known to have been sailors and to have come to Dutchess County from Cape Cod in 1756. It is a pleasant speculation that Thomas Ganong may have been in Amenia, Dutchess County, to marry Joanna Barlow when the pledge of 1775 was passed around, and hence signed it with his father in law. At all events, their marriage must have occurred about that time.
Descendants of Thomas Ganong are great in number as shown below but one line of descent is of particular interest. That of the two brothers that began the now, flourishing Ganong Chocolate Factory, of St. Stephens, New Brunswick.
Two generations from Thomas Ganong is quite a famous couple. Francis Daniel Ganong, his grandson, born 1818, died 1887, and his wife Deborah Ruth Keirstead. Famous because they produced some remarkable children, one of which was my Great Grandmother. Although she is not the famous one, it was two of her brothers that have made the family famous. James Harvey, born 1841 and Gilbert White, born 1851 When in the midst of a town noted for ship building and lumbering in 1873, the brothers , totally unknown to the town of St. Stephens found a need for the goods of fruit, nuts and ...candy. Thus began the Ganong Chocolate Factory. It flourished through the 80's and 90's but not with out the normal trials and tribulations of building a business. By the turn of the century the first generation of Ganongs gave way to the next, and James son Arthur took on the responsibility of steering the company through the First World War, the Great Depression, and the Second World War. President from 1917-1957. I remember Arthur as a young child. Not him so much as I was very young but I remember the "Candy Man." Now it was time for Arthur's son Whidden to take the lead, and did so in the 50's, 60's and 70's facing huge taxes and internal dissension that almost buried the company. President from 1957-1977.
In 1947 there was a share holders meeting to determine the new, or continuing ownership of the factory. The entire story in detail can be read in the book "The Chocolate Ganongs" by David Folster. Very good reading I might add. But my interest in this share holders meeting is, that my grandfather had shares inherited by his wife, and they were represented by proxy by a cousin along with two other cousins, also representing relatives shares by proxy, and they were instrumental in swinging the vote in favor of the brothers.
Whidden is still alive to day and has just celebrated his 90th birthday in St. Stephens. He still goes to his office at the new quarters of the Factory at 1 Chocolate Lane in St. Stephen, New Brunswick His nephew David took over the Presidency in 1977 and is to this day the president.
Below is only three generations plus the fourth of the line of interest, of the descendants of Thomas Ganong. There are to many to put further generations here, but if you need more please feel free to contact me.